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30 Apr 2013

Elaine Stritch

Photo by Aubrey Reuben

"Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me," the new documentary about the Tony Award-winning stage veteran that premiered to strong critical and audience response April 19 at the Tribeca Film Festival, has been acquired by Sundance Selects, according to Variety.

Documentary filmmaker Chiemi Karasawa ("Love, Etc"; Emmy-winning "The Betrayal") of Isotope Films directed the film that began capturing Stritch's public and personal life in February 2011. Tony and Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin is executive producer of the film.

A release date for the film's nationwide debut has not been announced.

Last month Stritch announced that she would retire from performing. The icon played her final New York engagement, Elaine Stritch at the Carlyle: Movin' Over and Out, in early April and recently departed to her home state of Michigan.

Here's how the film is billed: "What does it mean to be a performing artist – first, last and always? Broadway legend Elaine Stritch can answer that. At 87, Stritch is still here, dominating the stage in her one woman cabaret act, torturing Alec Baldwin on "30 Rock," giving us her take on aging, her struggle with alcohol and diabetes, and the fear of leaving the follow spot behind. In stolen moments from her corner room at the Carlyle, and on breaks from her tour and work, candid reflections about her life are punctuated with rare archival footage, words from friends and photographs from her personal collection. By turns bold, hilarious and achingly poignant, the journey connects Stritch's present to her past, and an inspiring portrait of a one-of-a-kind survivor emerges."